Of Better Things
by Nagron
Summary: Edward starts to doubt his feelings for Bella, and soon develops new ones for another. Expect outrageous amounts of jealous!edward. Edward/Jacob SLASH
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_[Set a few months after New Moon, Edward's P.O.V.]_

I watched Bella sleep with a sense of bemusement. Less than two months ago, I'd watched her every night in this strangely human stupor and felt my insides surging, as though my heart was beating again. I looked at her now and felt overwhelmed by indifference. And it frightened me.

The prospect that I, the man that she'd almost died for three times and who had left her reeling in inconsolable pain for almost a year after temporarily leaving her, could be falling out of love with her was not good news. I had no intention of hurting anybody, but watching her snort and drool for eight hours every night had lost any kind of appeal to me. I couldn't help but wonder why I'd ever enjoyed this experience so much. Going next door and watching her father sleep would have had similar effects.

"Jacob," she murmured, and I groaned inwardly.

Bella had always been a sleep-talker, but recently the only thing she ever said involuntarily was the name of her ex-best friend; the boy who refused to be near her as long as she was involved with someone like me. A vampire. I had no problem with Bella's attachment to Jacob. He didn't pose a threat to me. He was a werewolf who, by nature, should try to kill me on sight. But a treaty that my family signed generations ago meant that he couldn't touch me. And he didn't pose a threat in any other sense of the word; Bella was hopelessly devoted to me and I would never have to compete with the likes of Jacob Black.

An hour passed, and I felt as though I had spent the majority of the night thinking about anything but Bella. I suddenly stiffened as she began to splutter. I considered hastily leaving through the window and avoiding a fresh batch of her haystack hair and morning breath, but concluded that my absence would cause her some concern. She was so dependent on me, it was almost pathetic. She fidgeted for a moment and then grunted into consciousness. Her eyes immediately flickered over to me, sitting in my usual chair. She smiled and I forced myself to return the favour. Without speaking, she clambered out of bed and came to sit on my lap. I nuzzled into her neck, enjoying the smell of her pounding blood. She mistook it for affection and nuzzled back.

"How was your night?" she asked, her voice gravelly from sleep.

"Interesting. You've been talking again."

She sighed, probably embarrassed. "What did I say?"

" 'Jacob', of course." I peered at her, wondering whether or not I felt like rattling her so early in the morning. I decided that it was a good idea. "You know he's in love with you, don't you?"

To my surprise, she snorted. "Highly unlikely, Edward."

I frowned and pushed her away a little so I could look into her eyes and stop her from stroking my neck in circles. I'd recently begun to hate it when she did that, though I'd once relished her warmth against my dead skin.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" I questioned. I could think of many reasons.

"Well, I mean… you know about Jacob, don't you?" My expression caused her to carry on. "He's not interested in me. He's not interested in girls generally." She watched my features change and giggled, shrill and loud. I was sure it must have woken her father up. "Anyway," she went on, "I have to go get ready for school. Twenty minutes."

She stood up, kissed my nose and exited. I remained unmoving. Jacob was gay? I barely knew the boy, but for some reason the news had left my head swimming. My first thought was one of curiosity: Why hadn't I heard that in his thoughts on the rare occasions that we'd met? Second was considering all the times I'd imagined that Jacob had acted as a temporary replacement for me after I'd broken up with Bella last year. I'd gone as far as assuming that they had kissed, and gazed into each other's eyes, and done all the intimate things that Bella and I did so comfortably. But now it seemed that I had been completely off the mark. Thirdly, I contemplated the fact that if it did all get too much and my feelings towards my significant other didn't return to their original state, Jacob couldn't be there to sweep her off her feet and make her forget me. It wasn't that I wanted them to be together, I just always thought that having Jacob as a rebound would soften the blow. Bella didn't deserve to be left alone and sad, even if I didn't want to be with her anymore. And fourthly, I began to think about Jacob in a way that startled me and caused me to bound out of the window and rush home at a superhuman pace, doing two laps of the forest on the way to try and clear my head of all impure thoughts.

I changed my clothes, wrote a short journal entry, said 'Hello' to my family and had my car in Bella's driveway long before she emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her waste and her hair damp and limp in a most unflattering way. I decided to enter the house through the front door to explain the sudden presence of my car to Bella's father Charlie, who was entirely unaware of my ability to move so fast that I could not be seen by human eyes.

Knowing that he would be dressed and eating breakfast already, I knocked on the door and waited patiently for an answer. I heard Charlie's grumbling thoughts as he bustled through the hallway to let me in. He knew that it was me and wished that I would give him at least one day that he wasn't forced to lay eyes on me. I smirked as the door swung open. I greeted him and was met with silence as he went back to his breakfast. I strolled upstairs and was pleased to find Bella fully dressed, drying her hair. She looked self-satisfied. I waited for the wailing of the hairdryer to stop before I spoke.

"What are you so pleased about?"

She raised an eyebrow and looked at me sideways. It was smug and unappealing. "I know how to get Jake to like me again."

"Oh yes?" I asked casually, though the mention of his name made my head spin again. "And how might that be?"

She spun on the balls of her feet to face me, suddenly beaming. "I'm going to set him up with Mike."

I blinked at her, then nodded. "OK."

"He's been having a really hard time since he came out, and I think that Jake is exactly what he needs." She clapped her hands together excitedly. "I'm so brilliant!"

"Mmm. Then maybe we could double date!"

The sarcasm was lost on her. "Oh my gosh, yes! We could go to that new restaurant near La Push, Angela said it's really nice in there and isn't too expensive."

"Absolutely, except that you're failing to comprehend the fact that if I set foot on the reservation Jacob and his little friends have permission to rip me to shreds."

Bella's face dropped as though she was suddenly remembering the whole werewolf-vampire mortal enemies situation.

"Right. Of course." She sounded disheartened, but that didn't stop me from going on.

"And how are you going to set him up with someone if he won't even answer the phone to you? Are you going to send Mike round there with some lube, make him say 'Bella sent me' and just cross your fingers?"

"No. I suppose not." She slumped onto the bed. "Crap. I really thought I was onto something."

I chuckled and went to sit beside her. My arm wrapped around her back out of habit, rather than love. She leaned into me and I felt her head twist to check the time. She groaned as she realised it was time to leave and we trudged down the stairs, hand in hand.

"Morning, Bells," Charlie said as we passed. I heard him think about insisting that she eat breakfast before school, but then he decided that allowing her to leave would give him less time with me, and would therefore be the best option for all concerned.

"Morning, Dad," Bella replied with a warm smile. "I'll have dinner on the table before you get home tonight."

Charlie smiled. "That's my girl."

I found the exchange inexplicably irritating, and quickened my pace to get away from drone of typical human conversation. I practically pulled Bella to my car and almost jogged to the other side in order to take my place behind the wheel. I started the engine wordlessly and pulled away from the drive with an unpleasant shriek of the tires. I could feel Bella's eyes on my face as usual, but decided to keep mine unnecessarily on the road. My thoughts, to my dismay, returned to Jacob. All the same thoughts as before. I tried shaking my head to stop the disturbing inner monologue, too fast for Bella to notice, but I couldn't shake the thoughts. I kept picturing Jacob and I in various scenarios. They started as basic scenarios involving fishing trips and walks along Le Push beach – an impossible friendship. They then turned to romantic scenarios, such as candle lit meals and _moonlit _walks along Le Push beach – an even more impossible friendship. The scenarios got graphic after that, and I felt myself clutching the steering wheel so tightly that I feared it would break. My instincts soon kicked in, though, and the scenarios simply became ones of fighting, just as we were supposed to, werewolf on vampire. This line of thought satisfied me. More than it should have.

We pulled into the school parking lot and I hoped that the murmured and predictable voices of the student body and the teacher's useless lectures on things I'd learnt far too many times would be enough to keep my thoughts clean all day, though I knew they wouldn't.

"What are you thinking about?" Bella asked as I pulled up beside Alice's car. I turned to study her: Her forehead was creased, her eyes tormented. "You've been jittery the whole way here. I've never seen you like that before."

I thought for a moment, then smiled, disarmed by her concern. "Nothing."

She nodded, and we both exited the vehicle to greet Alice. As we walked towards the building, she and Bella spoke about homework, then about Bella's plans for Jacob and Mike. Alice frowned as Bella babbled, and I wished that Alice's ability to predict the future could help in this situation. Her visions were usually extremely useful and I could read them as soon as they came to her, before anybody else could. But any future involving werewolves did not appear in her visions; it was something that Carlisle and I had discussed, but never figured out.

"That's a nice idea, Bella, but how are you going to play Cupid for somebody who won't speak to you?" Alice asked sweetly.

I threw my hands up into the air, a little too melodramatically. "Thank you!"

"That's what he said." Bella stabbed a finger in my direction, a bitter inflexion in her voice as she said "_he_". "But I'm going to figure it out." She looked at me. "Mark my words."

"Good luck to you." I shook my head as I said it.

We arrived in school and had time to mindlessly chat about anything that came up. Though my feelings for Bella were fading, I had to admit that her conversations were captivating. I was used to reading human's thoughts and knowing what they were going to say or do long before they said or did it, but my inability to read her thoughts always left me baffled by her responses. She seemed to disregard typical human behaviour entirely, which was one of the things that had drawn me to her in the first place. That, and her torturing scent.

First period was dull and predictable. Second period was the same. Third period left my wanting to rip my hair out. I was surprised by my own impatience today. I sat next to Bella in most my classes and was always appreciative when she slipped me an amusing note or got the answer to a question completely wrong and allowed me to express my far superior intellect by correcting it. She always turned a little pink when I did that, just enough for my advanced eyes to see.

I had fourth period alone and the class was kept behind, so I went to the lunch hall ten minutes after everyone else had settled down. I approached the usual table and was confused by the four people huddled around Mike. It was some of the usual suspects; Angela, Jessica, Tyler and Bella all excitedly gathered around him as he clutched a phone to his ear and beamed. I quickly picked up their thoughts long enough to figure out that Mike was phoning Jacob from Bella's cell. I felt my stomach flip. They were using a withheld number as Jacob had a habit of rejecting Bella's calls, and it only took a second of listening to Mike's mind to know that he was hoping to get sex out of this arrangement. Not what Bella wanted for Jacob at all.

I sat beside Bella and Angela turned to me, but quickly looked away. As their natural predator, people tended to be afraid of me by instinct, but unable to realise that they were actually frightened around me. To them I just seemed stand-offish. So half a second of looking into my eyes was enough to make Angela regret looking my way. Avoiding my gaze, she decided to explain the situation anyway.

"Hi, Edward. Mike is calling Jacob Black, the gay Quileute kid from the reservation."

Though she knew it was unnecessary, Bella decided to join in with the explanation for show. "They met once before, while you were… away." I saw her flinch at the memory of me leaving her, and wondered why she brought it up since it was still so painful for her. "So Jake knows what Mike looks like. He's going to ask him out on a date and then casually slip in that I sent him, as you suggested earlier. Remember?" She smirked. Ugh. How could I forget. "That way, hopefully he'll be so happy that I got him a date that he might want to start talking to me again. What do you think?"

I had many thoughts. None of which I understood, or wanted to verbalise. "Foolproof," I said with a smile.

Bella nodded, satisfied, and turned back to Mike, who was still waiting for Jacob to pick up.

"Oh, hello," he said, his voice a little more camp than I was used to. I rolled my eyes. "Jacob, right?… Yes, my name's Mike, we met once before. We went to the cinema with Bella, do you remember?" He laughed falsely. "Yeah, I got sick. So _humiliating_." He put so much emphasis on the word that I had to cringe. There was no way Jacob would be interested in someone who was trying so hard. No way in hell. "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go out some time… Well, obviously with me… Oh my goodness, great." He looked at Bella and they both stifled giggles. I wondered why the others weren't as embarrassed as I was. Not only was Mike suddenly speaking like a raging homosexual, but Jacob was _falling for it_. I didn't understand. "I was thinking of the new restaurant, by the beach on your res… Oh, is it really bad?" He shot Angela venomous look as though it were her fault. "Where do you want to go then?… Tonight? Absolutely! It's Friday, right? Is eight OK?… Good, good. Listen, you're probably gonna be a little weirded out when I tell you this, but just remember that she's doing it because she cares about you." He took a large breath as though he was about to deliver some life-altering news. "Bella asked me to ring you." He didn't speak for a long time, his eyes fixed on Bella. "Alright," he eventually replied, "that sounds like a lot of fun. I'll let her know and I'll see you tonight… Bye then." He hung up and was immediately bombarded with questions. He answered them all slowly, his voice returning to its standard butch tone. I remained silent.

"What did he say about me?" Bella asked once she got a word in edgeways.

One of Mike's eyebrows disappeared under his blond fringe. "He asked you to call him. He said that he misses hanging out with you, despite the circumstances. What circumstances does he mean?"

All eyes were now trained on Bella. I watched as she struggled to avoid turning around and looking at me in explanation. I had assumed that as long as Bella was with a vampire, all the werewolves would have it in for her – especially Jacob. Apparently I had been wrong.

"Just the fight that Jake and I had," Bella said simply, "the one I told you about. It was a long time ago. I'm glad he's finally coming round."

Mike smiled. "The words 'double' and 'date' propped up…"

My chest went tight. Bella beamed. "Really?" she gushed. She turned to look at me, her eyes almost pleading.

There was a short silence.

"We'll talk about it," I said tonelessly. This seemed to give her hope. It was going to be an argument, but obviously one that she thought she could win. I knew that I could easily stand my ground and refuse to go anywhere near Jacob, or any of the wolf pack for that matter. But something inside me was willing me to go. Something was begging me to see Jacob in person and take in his scent, and the colour of his eyes, and the olive tint of his Native American skin. There was also a large part of me that wanted to see Mike and Jacob together, to see how I felt about it, or maybe to measure my jealousy, if there was any.

Perhaps a double date was just what I needed to get him out of my head. That's what I convinced myself, anyway.

TBC - Review depending xD


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the late update, was waiting to hit 10 reviews before I posted. Thanks so much for the reviews guys!**

**Chapter 2**

Jacob was ten minutes late. Bella had slurped two Cokes in that time and I could see that she was anxious. She reached for my hand under the table and I obliged. Mike was just as bad; he was making run of the mill small talk, but his thoughts were erratic and tense. He was wondering if Jacob would like him enough to go home with him. The idea sickened me.

Bella checked her watch for the eighteenth time. She hit the table hard enough for Mike's drink to spill a little. That's when I heard Jacob. I could hear his thoughts from yards away; he was running to the door and hoping that we hadn't left already. I felt myself go rigid. I almost warned Bella, but then I remembered that Mike would be a little surprised that I could hear our new arrival from so far away. I heard him speak to a waitress to ask where we were just as Bella decided to lose her patience.

"Where the hell is he?" she demanded. "If he's standing us up, I swear to God–"

"Hi guys," Jacob said as he scuttled towards us, an apologetic smile escaping across his warm, childish face.

"Jake!" Bella almost shrieked. "I thought you weren't coming."

He apologised and mumbled a false excuse involving homework. I knew from his thoughts that he'd been out with the other wolves. This unsettled me.

"Hi," Mike said loudly as Jacob took a seat beside him. "It's good to see you again." To my relief, the ridiculous feminine undertone from the phone call in the cafeteria had left his voice completely.

"You too," Jacob said quickly, then turned to peer at me briefly. His thoughts were predictable. _Leach. Blood sucker. Parasite. _I continued to listen as he picked up the menu and frowned at it. I wasn't entirely sure whether I'd heard his next thought correctly, though mishearing was something I'd never done before.

My _eyes? _He liked my eyes? And…

An inexplicable surge coursed through me and I decided to block out his thoughts for the rest of the evening – at least, until my curiosity got the better of me.

All four of us were reading our menus by now, though I knew that there wasn't much point for me to follow suit. Human food was repulsive to me, and sitting in a restaurant smelling everyone else's meals was making me queasy enough. So when Mike's thoughts lingered on the steak, I quickly intervened.

"The steak here is pretty bad apparently," I said nonchalantly. Bella looked at me, an understanding expression on her face. I waited as Mike's decision dithered, then changed course. _Phew_.

Steak was one of the worst smells in my opinion. Cooked meat was generally bad, but steak was especially repugnant. The trickle of blood often left behind on a cooked steak didn't satisfy me either, as the fact that it had been heated up always ruined it. This night might be OK, I decided, if I just shuffled close to Bella and tried to mask all the food smells with her mouth-watering scent.

A waitress came over and everyone ordered their meals; Bella had pasta, Mike had chicken and Jacob chose the steak. I scowled at him, wondering if he did it just because he knew how much it would taunt me. I politely told the waitress that I felt ill and wouldn't be ordering anything, and immediately felt Jacob's eyes on me. He knew exactly why I wasn't ordering. It was a struggle to not turn around and meet his gaze, as I feared that if I did then I would be forced to listen to his thoughts again. Though I wanted to, I knew that they would only serve to confuse me further.

Mike did most of the talking and directed it largely towards Jacob, who seemed disinterested. He and Bella occasionally swapped meaningful glances, and I knew that they had missed each other very much. It was my fault that their friendship had ended, but this was the first time I'd felt bad about it.

"So, do you and Edward know each other?"

Mike's question caught me off guard. I saw it coming in his mind, but wasn't sure how to prepare myself for it. Jacob looked at me. I looked back. His thoughts flew from his brain into mine at a dizzying pace, and I had to quickly look away. I wasn't sure what I was feeling, and I wasn't sure if I liked it.

"We've met," Jacob said tonelessly. "We're not close."

There was a brief, awkward silence. No one knew how to respond, and I heard Mike praying that he hadn't just ruined his chances. But the waitress arrived with three meals and interrupted the tension. I shuffled towards Bella and put my face as close to her as I could manage without looking like I was going in for a kiss. Her scent only partially covered the stench of their meals, and every now and then Jacob waved his steak theatrically as he lifted it up to his mouth. I knew that he was doing it deliberately, watching my nostrils flare in repulsion each time the smell reached me.  
_  
Stupid canine._

The small talk restarted and was continued throughout dinner, leaving very little to say once everyone was done eating. Everyone, including me, paid a quarter of the bill and I heard Mike scanning through various ways of getting Jacob home with him. I felt a rumbling in my chest and knew that if I wasn't careful, a growl would erupt. What was wrong with me?

"I think we should get going," Bella said to me. I nodded and she turned to Jacob. "Can I talk to you? Privately?"

Jacob nodded and they both left the restaurant and stood outside the doors. I didn't see why they bothered; they both knew that I could still hear them.

Mike and I stood up, reading to leave.

"So, are you feeling any better?" he asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He'd always had a bit of a problem with me being around Bella, especially since I broke her heart.

"Yes, thank you," I said politely, smiling only a little so that I didn't show my teeth and frighten him. "Did you enjoy your meal?"

"Yes." His voice was choked and uncomfortable.

At the same time, I could hear Bella and Jacob conversing outside.

"Thanks for inviting me tonight, Jake," she was saying.

"That's OK." I heard movement and guessed that they were hugging. "I've missed you. I wish you would come to the res sometimes."

"I will, I promise. Edward gets a little worried about me being around you, though. He thinks that being around a werewolf is going to get me hurt."

Jacob scoffed, convinced by his primitive instincts that nothing could be more dangerous than spending time with a vampire. "You know I would never hurt you."

"I know. So listen, what do you think of Mike?"

Jacob hesitated. I just about managed to refrain from eavesdropping into his thoughts. "He's nice," he said finally.

"Do you think anything's going to happen? I reckon he really wants to take you home." Her tone was suddenly somewhat concerned.

Jacob was silent again, and I was desperate to know what he was thinking but feared that if I eavesdropped and found that _I_featured in his thoughts then I would be knocked completely off-kilter. "You know what," he said confidently, "maybe I will go home with him. I deserve it, don't I?"

Bella hesitated. "Of course you do. I want you to have fun." She paused, as though trying to choose her words. "Is it definitely what you want?"

Jacob's response was calculated and abashed, as though he knew I'd be listening. "Yeah, I want to… explore… you know?"

"Just remember that I set this up, OK?" Bella teased, less concerned now.

Jacob chuckled. "OK."

Before I knew what I was doing, I was outside with one hand firmly grasping Bella's right arm. She was startled, but I didn't care.

"Can we go?" I asked gruffly. "I'm feeling _sick _again."

She stared up at me, completely at a loss. Then she nodded and allowed me to drag her back to my car, not that I needed permission. She climbed into the passenger seat and was still fastening her seatbelt by the time we were on the road.

"What the hell is up with you?" she demanded. "Have I done something wrong?"

"No." I didn't look at her.

She was thoughtful. "Did something happen at home?"

"No."

"Did Alice see something bad?"

"NO."

She stopped asking questions and stared out the window. I soon heard sniffling and realised that I'd made her cry.

We pulled up to her front drive and I sighed. I reached over, undid her belt and scooped her up into my arms with no effort whatsoever.

"Sorry," I said quietly. I wiped the tears away from her face.

"That's OK. But please tell me what's bothering you." She stroked my hair as she spoke. I didn't enjoy it, but it wasn't unpleasant.

"Nothing," I lied, doing the lop-sided grin that she adored so much.

"OK." She leaned in and pressed her lips softly against mine. Then, as usual, my scent overpowered her and her kiss became too forceful. I picked her up and placed her back in her seat before one of us became a meal.

"Sorry," she said as usual. I nodded and opened the door for her. She hopped and turned back to me. "Will you come over after Charlie falls asleep?"

I thought about it for a moment, and suddenly had a stupid idea that I knew I had to go through with.

"I'm going hunting with Emmett tonight. He hasn't eaten in a while. But I'll come over tomorrow, OK?"

She looked disappointed, but agreed. I waited for the front door to close behind her before I pulled away and drove in the wrong direction, towards Mike's house.

TBC - Review depending :)


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